The Mob killed the crowd
The local standup comedy scene has been growing steadily over the past few years. One of the more interesting events on its calendar has been the Laugh Die You series by Popcorn Studios, which features standup routines, skits, and musical performances.
The most recent installation, Laugh Die You – The Mob, took place on Feb 11 at the Genting International Showroom, Resorts World Genting.
The show promised a hilarious look at the love-hate relationship between Malaysians and Singaporeans.
Representing Malaysia was funnyman Kuah Jen Han, and flying the flag for Singapore were actor-comedian Mark Lee and New Zealand-born comic Jonathan Atherton.
Before the show, it was difficult to determine who would come out on top in the comedy battle.
While Kuah arguably would have the homeground advantage, Lee has a strong local fanbase due to his roles in some of Singapore’s biggest comedy films, while Atherton has been a longtime veteran of the regional comedy scene.
The show kicked off with a showcase by rising local R&B singer Michael Leaner, who performed covers of popular hits like Cry Me a River, Human Nature, Pillowtalk and I Believe I Can Fly, and new singer Natalia Ng, who performed her debut Chinese single, Fly.
Learner and Ng also joined up for a duet on Sam Smith’s Lay Me Down, after which, the audience was more than ready for the comedians to take the stage.
First up was Lee, who was playing the role of host for the night. He immediately started with some off-colour jokes.
Noticing a young boy with his family in the front row, he immediately told the boy to cover his ears, and began using code words for some of the more risque portions of his act, which had the audience giggling.
Lee also invited members of the audience to join him onstage twice, the first for a ‘bodybuilding’ contest where he secretly asked the audience to choose the person with the most armpit hair as the winner!
The second occasion was to conduct an impromptu English lesson, teaching participants his own unique style of pronunciation, which had everyone in stitches. Lee also introduced the other two comedians when their turn came.
First up was Kuah. The two engaged in some quick banter, with Lee teasing Kuah about his weight, and Kuah gamely taking potshots at Lee’s ‘English lessons’.
Kuah soon had the audience cheering and laughing as he listed down the funniest things about Singapore and its citizens; everything from its reputation as a ‘fine city’ (“I saw this sexy Singaporean girl, I asked her: ‘How are you doing’?”, she said: ‘Fine’, I said: ‘How much’?”), to its food (“Singapore judges restaurants by the number of Michelin stars, that’s S-T-A-R. Malaysia judges them the other way, by the number of R-A-T-S.”) and the unique Singlish dialect.
The audience also loved his jokes about the differences between Hong Kong and Bollywood movies, and his good-natured deconstruction of Asian cultural quirks.
Kuah also cracked some jokes at his own expense, which sent the audience into peals of laughter.
After a brief intermission, during which Lee led the Chinese God of Prosperity to distribute mandarin oranges (that night being Chap Goh Meh, the last day of the Chinese New Year festivities), the show resumed with Atherton, who surprised the audience with his proficiency in regional dialects.
He rattled off punchlines – and almost entire jokes – in Malay, Mandarin, and Hokkien, among others.
He then told a hilarious story about how he used his wits to get out of speeding tickets, and even talked about how he and his ex-wife went to a feng shui expert to help improve their marriage (“He said we just needed to move the couch. I thought what a wonderful idea, and so I blocked the front door with it so my ex-wife couldn’t get back in the house”).
Atherton also took swipes at people across both sides of the causeway, using his observations from his many years of living and working in the region.
Despite being a relative unknown to most of the audience that night, he soon had everyone begging for more.
For the final act, all the comedians, as well as Leaner and Ng, came onstage for another quick musical performance, before bidding the audience goodnight.
As far as comedy shows go, this had just the right balance of humour, allowing the audience to laugh at ourselves as well as our neighbours across the causeway.
And if this show is anything to go by, it looks like the local standup comedy scene is in good hands.